Wow what an emotional rollercoaster! I guessed the connection between the characters pretty quickly, but this book gripped me with its poignant story and sobbed multiple times.
Very sensitively written on such a difficult topic

Daughters of Madurai is a heart wrenching story of a woman’s fight to keep her girl child alive and safe from those who think girls are a burden!

The story is told in two different timelines the first is of Janani in 1993 in Madurai and the other of her daughter in 2019 in Australia.

A heart wrenching and moving story that I could not put down until I got to the end. Both sides were told in a way that meshed really well characters that you loved and wanted to get to know more and characters you hated.

Thankyou to Netgalley, Orion and the author for the e-ARC.

“All of Madurai is a shrine. They call it the city of temples…”

I was due to head to India early in 2023, but because of the visa situation of British citizens (now thankfully resolved) trying to get into India, we had to cancel our trip. We were heading to Madurai and therefore I was very much looking forward to reading this novel as a kind a substitute for being unable to go.

The story comprises two time lines. Early 1990s set in Usilampatti in Madurai District is the story of Janani, who is living with her husband’s parents and is subject to great cruelty from the family. She has also had multiple pregnancies and by tradition, female babies that are brought into the world are often summarily despatched into the next. Their worth to the family is zero. Janani has had more than her fair share of misery, she has been allowed to keep only one female child, we know that two daughters “lay cold under the coconut palm'” and now she discovers she is once again expecting a child. The chapters start to open with a monthly update of the size of the developing foetus.

Forward to Sydney 2019 and we meet Nila, who is of Indian heritage and is sitting on a secret. But her grandfather back in Madurai falls seriously ill and the family has to decamp to take their leave of the old man. Being a fully fledged Australian, she has little memory of family and life in India.

There is a good sense of place. The hot, chaotic streets of the city come to life. The characters pass such local attractions as Thiruparankundram with its ancient carved temples and the well known Murugan Temple. There are details that range across the gamut of everyday life, and the author paints a very vivid picture for the reader.

The writing is quite simple and descriptive. I struggled with some of the unusual similes that the author chose to use. A stronger editing hand would have honed the text a little. There are some curious turns of phrase that are, on occasion, slightly jarring to the fluidity of the prose. Overall the novel forms a heart rending introduction to the practice of female infanticide that has been prevalent in India for centuries. It is an illegal practice nowadays but it is still thought to be hugely underreported. A sobering read.

I'd love to say that this book surprised me, but it didn't.

There's nothing surprising about female infanticide in books set in India. I wish that weren't true, but it is.

Equally, keeping secrets from your family isn't unusual either.

That said, this is a well-written book that touches on many of the harsher aspects of life as a poor woman in India, and it's much lighter on the abuse than many similar stories. The author hasn't over-egged the misery and that could very easily have been the case.

In the early chapters, it's not immediately obvious (though it doesn't stretch the imagination too much to work it out), how the characters in the two timelines are connected.

The most remarkable thing about this book is how well the wealthy family accepted their son's choices and how lucky Janina was to have such supportive employers. I've read many books set in India where neither would have been the case.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy.

Janani is married to Darshan and as is the culture now lives with him and his mother having to leave her own family who live far away. They have one daughter Lavanika which is not “acceptable” in their world as boys are the most important gender. Darshan is a drunk and ruled by his mother who is a complete harridan and so unkind to Janani it makes your heart sore. Janani becomes pregnant again and produces another girl and this child is taken away. Life continues to be extremely hard and difficult for Janini and the only highlights in her life are her daughter and the home which she cleans daily. This household is a calm environment for her. Pregnant again the same thing happens and the trauma is unbelievable. Life goes on in a sad passage of time and, of course, Janani becomes pregnant again and she is determined that if a daughter life will be different this time. When pregnant this time a tragedy happens as Lavanika is involved in a road traffic accident which makes Janani all the more determined that this next child will survive. The story continues through her life, loss, love and a momentous move to another country with the daughter, Nila, she saved and with the man she loved, Sanjay. As Nila grows up she wants to find out the history of the families and this opens a can of worms but the story telling is great and I really enjoyed this book. A definite must read.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The book is a the story of the practice of female foetus and baby killings in southern India, how it affects women more broadly, and how it traumatises an entire family (as well society as a whole). It is told via the life of Janani in two time periods - in the early 90s she is a young bride who keeps having girls, only for those to be taken away from her, while in the late 2010s it is her own daughter who seeks understanding of her mother, and embarks on a journey to the past. The two timelines beautifully coalesce - as the story in the 90s progresses forward, the one in the 2010s moves back. In some ways it remind me of family sagas, such as Pachinko, The Picture Bride, and even the Wild Swans. In other ways, it's also a story of India, reminding me of The God of Small Things, a Suitable Boy, and, perhaps most of all, of A Fine Balance. In yet other ways - it's unique, in taking up the topic of parenting and dealing with it with such care and love that I've not yet experienced anywhere else.

This is a very hard review for me to write. It is perhaps the most beautiful (and I choose that word carefully) book I read in many years. It tells a story of an unspeakable tragedy in a gentle and warm way. It brings to life south India, with its colours, foods, smells, family, and socio-economic issues. It gives life to one of the more fragile but strong characters I've encountered in fiction in many years, and makes her (Janani) feel like someone you know and never want to stop knowing. It is also a story of hope and how some people, regardless of their background and history, can be just good people, who care, and love, and it is also a story of the impact small acts of kindness might have. More than anything, this is one of those books that will stay with me for years and decades to come. I feel it imprinted on my emotions and in my memory already now. It doesn't feel like a story I read - it rather feels like an experience I've lived through. I feel I'm a slightly different person for reading it - a better person, and I think the impact will just continue to grow over time.

My one practical comment here is that I found myself, suddenly, about halfway through the book, crying, and I didn't stop for many minutes after the book ended. Maybe it's because I'm a parent myself, maybe it's because of the universal message this book sends to all parents of all children - I don't know.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, the premise sounded so good and books that are set in India have always intrigued me bacause I know so little about the country and its culture. However, this book was so much better than I expected it to be.
The writing was astonishingly good and the characters were so well developed. I loved it,

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done an amazing job of creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book.